NOTE: THE DEFINING
GENERATION is a project begun by Doug and Pam Sterner in 2002 and
completed in 2006. Initially is was prepared for publication as a book,
however with their changing focus to development of a database of military
awards, was postponed indefinitely so they could concentrate on that
larger, more important work. The stories found herein however, need to be
shared, and they have consented to make this compilation available in this
format. While each story can stand alone, it is recommended that for
continuity, readers will be best served by reading the chapters
sequentially from first to last.

The Defining
Generation

-

Defining Equality

Black Medal of Honor Heroes
Of the Vietnam War

In all, of the 246
Medals of Honor awarded to soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines during
the Vietnam war, 20 were bestowed upon Black heroes. The fact that not one
Black defender of freedom in either of the World Wars received the Medal
of Honor was corrected in the 1990s with belated presentation of one Medal
of Honor to one World War I black soldier, and to seven from World War II.
Even with that correction, it is obvious that during the Vietnam War, for
the first time in our nation's history, great strides were made to correct
this long-standing slight of our heroes:

War

Total
MOH Awards

Black
Recipients

%

Civil
War

1522

25

2%

Indian
Campaigns

426

18

4%

Peace
Time Awards

193

9

5%

Spanish-Am.
War

110

6

5%

World
War I

124

1

1%

World
War II

464

7

2%

Korean
War

132

2

2%

Vietnam
War

245

20

8%

It is probably an over-simplification to
take men or women of the caliber of the 20 Black Vietnam War heroes and
categorize them by ethnicity, or for that matter by any other category.
They should be remembered for what they were--AMERICAN HEROES. That said,
the parsing out of these 20 Black heroes does at the least, serve well to
demonstrate the great strides towards equality of Black Americans during
the War in Vietnam.

These 20 heroes came from a variety of
backgrounds: North, South, East and West, from broken homes and stable
families, from poor neighborhoods and hard-working middle class families.
Among them you will find a few high school dropouts, far more high school
graduates, and several college educated men. One of them subsequently ran
afoul of the law; others rose to the pinnacles of their profession. All of
them accomplished unbelievable and sacrificial deeds that deserve the
highest platitudes we can bestow upon them. Only one, Clarence Sasser, is
alive today.

These twenty Black heroes represent a
cross-section of America. Furthermore, they men provide vivid example of
the fallacies of many so-called "facts" ascribed to the Vietnam
Veteran:

·Fifteen of the 20 Black Medal of Honor
recipients died in their moment of heroism, a casualty rate of 75%. That
is only slightly higher than the 62% casualty rate of all 246 Vietnam War
Medal of Honor heroes.

·The youngest Black recipient was
18-year old Milton Olive; the oldest was 39-year old Calvin Rogers. The
average age of these 20 heroes at the time of their actions in Vietnam was
26.7 years of age.

·At least 15 of these men ENLISTED to
answer the call of duty; they were VOLUNTEERS. Only TWO are specifically
identified as having been drafted.

·Six of these heroes were
"lowly" Privates First Class. Ten were seasoned Non-Commissioned
Officers; four were Officers.

·Two of the twenty were highly trained
medical aidmen. Two others were members of the Army's elite Special
Forces.

All of them were dedicated Americans who
served, sacrificed, and in most cases gave all that they had including
their lives, in answer to the call of duty.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The authors extend our thanks to the following who granted personal
interviews for this work: Roger Donlon (MOH), Robin Moore,
Don Bendell, Jimmy Stanford, Vince Yrineo, Sammy L. Davis (MOH),
Linda Alvarado, Karen Offutt, Lieutenant General Carol Mutter, Sir
Edward Artis, General Colin L. Powell, Katharine Houghton, Adrian
Cronauer, Jan Scruggs, Delbert Schmeling, and Peter Lemon (MOH).Our thanks to the staff of the following who either wrote or
allowed reprint of their own works for this book: Dr.
Marguerite Guzman Bouvard, Don Bendell, Congressman Sam Farr,
Congressman Thomas Petri, Congressman Mike Honda, Congressman Jim
Walsh, Governor Jim Doyle, and Scott Baron.Our special thanks also to the staff of the following who provided
information and fact-checked the chapters related to their
subject: Staff of Senator John Kerry, Staff of (then) Senator
Hillary Clinton, Staff of Senator Jim Webb
A SPECIAL THANKS also to Dr. Marguerite Guzman Bouvard for his
assistance in writing and editing the entire section on the Role of
the Sexes.